• Increase your sample screening and genotyping assay throughput with the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette

    Discover the advantages of setting up a genotyping assay or sample screening with the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette

    Laboratories are continually facing the challenge of increasing throughput in the most efficient and economical way, to meet the need to process more and more samples per day. Traditionally, handling and manipulating samples between different labware formats involves the use of single channel pipettes, especially in screening applications and genotyping assays, which is slow, inefficient and error prone.

    INTEGRA’s VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette has enabled scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to benefit from the enhanced productivity of a multichannel pipette, reducing tedious liquid handling tasks.

    Compared to fully automated solutions, it provides seamless liquid transfers between different standardized and non-standardized microplate, tube and gel chamber formats, and can be used without any special training. Tip spacing can be simply changed one-handedly with the push of a button, eliminating the need for any manual adjustments.

    The various operating modes of the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette help to speed up monotonous pipetting steps, eliminate sample transfer errors between different labware formats, and reduce the risk of developing repetitive strain injuries.

  • Table of contents

    Laboratories are continually facing the challenge of increasing throughput in the most efficient and economical way, to meet the need to process more and more samples per day. Traditionally, handling and manipulating samples between different labware formats involves the use of single channel pipettes, especially in screening applications and genotyping assays, which is slow, inefficient and error prone.

    INTEGRA’s VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette has enabled scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to benefit from the enhanced productivity of a multichannel pipette, reducing tedious liquid handling tasks.

    Compared to fully automated solutions, it provides seamless liquid transfers between different standardized and non-standardized microplate, tube and gel chamber formats, and can be used without any special training. Tip spacing can be simply changed one-handedly with the push of a button, eliminating the need for any manual adjustments.

    The various operating modes of the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette help to speed up monotonous pipetting steps, eliminate sample transfer errors between different labware formats, and reduce the risk of developing repetitive strain injuries.

Key benefits

The VOYAGER’s motorized adjustable tip spacing enables the user to benefit from the enhanced productivity of an electronic multichannel pipette throughout the entire genotyping assay, processing samples faster than with traditional single channel pipettes and helping to eliminate sample transfer errors between different labware formats.
Tip spacing can be adjusted on the fly with the push of a button to match different types of labware, allowing the easy transfer of multiple reaction mix samples from microcentrifuge tubes directly to 96 or 384 well plates, and gel pockets.
The availability of a range of pipetting modes makes the VOYAGER a very versatile and affordable tool to speed up and standardize pipetting protocols.
New users quickly get accustomed to the electronic pipette thanks to its intuitive design and easy-to-use pipetting modes.

Experimental set-up

In this protocol, two VOYAGER 8 channel adjustable tip spacing pipettes are used for a genotyping set-up. The genotyping assay is based on a PCR method with a subsequent gel electrophoresis.
The following protocol consists of sample transfers from 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tubes into a 96 well plate, and from a 96 well PCR plate into an agarose gel for electrophoresis.

Overview of the steps:

  1. Template transfer
  2. Sample transfer into the agarose gel

Step-by-step procedure

Adjust the tip spacing by aligning it against the empty 96 well plate and tube rack.
Figure 1: Adjust the tip spacing by aligning it against the empty 96 well plate and tube rack

1. Template transfer

Transfer the templates into a 96 well plate.

Use a VOYAGER 8 channel 300 μl electronic pipette with 300 μl Sterile, Filter GRIPTIPS®. Select ‘Tip spacing’ in the main menu of the pipette to set the required spacing. Choose ‘Positions: 2’ in the tip spacing menu and set the tip spacing according to the 96 well plate and the microcentrifuge tubes in the rack (Figure 1). Once saved, the tip spacing is available at any time, for any other pipetting modes.
After saving the tip spacing, select ‘Pipet’ mode in the main menu. Set your required sample transfer volume and pipette the templates from the 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tubes into the 96 well plate (Figure 2). By pressing left and right on the Touch Wheel interface, the tip spacing can be adjusted on the fly to fit each labware format.

Tips:

  • Use the Repeat Dispense mode to dispense several samples successively if duplicate or triplicate samples are required.
  • Use the Pipet/Mix mode if samples require mixing in the target wells. Settings like mixing cycles, pipetting speeds and volumes can quickly be adjusted.
Sample transfer from a microcentrifuge tube rack to a 96 well plate.
Figure 2: Sample transfer from a microcentrifuge tube rack to a 96 well plate.

2. Sample transfer into the agarose gel

Transfer the PCR product into the agarose gel.

After PCR, use the VOYAGER 8 channel 125 μl electronic pipette with 125 μl Sterile, Filter GRIPTIPS to transfer the samples from the 96 well PCR plate into the agarose gel for subsequent gel electrophoresis (Figure 3). As in step 1, choose ‘Positions: 2’ in the tip spacing menu and set the tip spacing according to the 96 well PCR plate and the agarose gel.
Set the required sample volume as described in step 1 and transfer the samples from the PCR plate into the agarose gel.

Tips:

  • A low dispensing speed (e.g. 4) helps uniform filling of the wells in the agarose gel.
  • If you want a controlled blowin – rather than automatic – keep the run button pressed while dispensing. Blowin will occur when the run button is released.
PCR product transfer into the agarose gel.
Figure 3: PCR product transfer into the agarose gel.

Conclusion

The VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette has enabled TUM researchers using different labware formats to benefit greatly from the enhanced productivity of a multichannel pipette, processing assays much faster than using a single channel pipette. The tip spacing can be changed onehandedly at the touch of a button to fit different labware formats, such as PCR plates, tubes and gel pockets.
Thanks to the intuitive interface, users quickly become accustomed to the electronic pipette. The different pipetting modes make the VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette a versatile yet affordable tool for working with labware of varying sizes and formats.
The VOYAGER adjustable tip spacing pipette increases the speed of sample testing set-ups, and helps eliminate sample transfer errors between different labware formats and reduce the risk of developing repetitive strain injuries.

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Instruments and accessories

VOYAGER, 8 Channel, 125 µl, electronic pipette

VOYAGER pipettes allow the tip spacing to expand anywhere between 4.5 mm and 33 mm at the push of a button.

  • Single handed operation leaves the other hand free to handle labware.
  • On the fly access to up to 3 user-defined tip spacings.
  • These user defined tip spacings are saved. No need to memorize spacings of different labware formats.

Part No. 4722

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VOYAGER pipettes allow the tip spacing to expand anywhere between 4.5 mm and 33 mm at the push of a button.

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Customer’s voice

The Voyager Series of Electronic pipettes is one of the easiest and convenient pipettes I have ever used. The ergonomic stability of these pipettes adds to the already excellent accuracy and precision. The programmable spacing of the tip heads makes it a breeze to transfer samples from PCR/source plates to Dilution plates to ELISA or other types of assay plates. These pipettes have quickly become the lab favorite.

Juan Romero, Xencor, Inc.

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